Abstract:

A panoply of new trend technologies can be applied in an innovative approach for the education sector. The proposed technologies are Virtual and Augmented Reality (AR/VR), Blockchain (BC), 5G and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The main topics researched in this publication are: Identify the technologies that are being used to enhance the dissemination of knowledge in the learning process and the professor’s receptiveness to learning experiences based on these technologies.

Advances in immersive learning technologies present opportunities to explore a variety of pedagogical methods in educational environments. A scenario of a cost effective AR/VR portable solution will, for sure, enrich the students experience. The research question that arises is: how technologies can be an asset for learning in higher education.

The new 5G provides a incredible fast path for the information flow with a low latency time. This enables the development of several mobile solutions for the enhancement of the learning experience.

The tools provide by AI and BC will enrich, also, a set of new tools optimized for a better learning curve of a student.

A section of this article provides a research work through the enrolment of professors in a focus group conducted in two distinct Universities to enquire the students about their Iinformation Technology knowledge, awareness and preferences for the adoption of AR, VR, BC and AI as new tools in the classes and Campus.

The two focus groups consisted of:
at University one - two engineering and management professors; at University two - one professor in the area of Education, one in Sports, one in Technologies, one in Management and at last one in Education for Special Educational Needs. The focus groups lasted about 30 minutes and were carried out by the researchers, authors of paper, one in each University. The interviews were pre-authorized by the school boards, by the professors, as well as their audio recording. The anonymity and confidentiality of those involved in the investigation were safeguarded. The interviews were transcribed with the support of the qualitative analysis software, webQDA. The data collected was triangulated and validated according to the Delphi method, for greater validity and reliability of the results. From the main results, the following three categories were identified: i) challenges: big-data hosting, cultural adoption, integration issues, nascent technology, control, security and privacy; ii) advantages: user empowerment, high quality data, durability, reliability, longevity, process integrity, and disadvantages: instability, energy consumption, cost of creation, maintenance of technologies and platforms where they are allocated, gigantic human effort, highly competent human resources, maintenance of platforms and associated technologies.

The article concludes that the use of technologies for professors at both Universities is an attractive evolutional path for lecturing with some limitations, that are dependent of the lecturer profile and course curriculum.

Keywords:

Professors, Conceptions on use of technologies, Higher Education, Learning Process.